Compassion in a Foreign Land
Night had fallen when 20 of us found ourselves in the middle of excited chaos
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Awakening the Soul
I arrived in South America with the understanding that as an exchange student I would be filled to the brim with memorable experiences. Little did I know at the time that one of my adventures would...
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Vacation Takes You.
“You don’t take a vacation, vacation takes you”. Such accurate words to describe my experience during my travels away from home July second through the seventeenth. I...
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A Trip Back in Time
My family doesn’t travel very often and by extension, I don’t travel often either, but with the trips I have taken, I’ve learned one thing. You don’t have to travel to the...
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The Journey to My First New York Skyline
With city lights below me and the pitter patter of rain on my window, I was ready to see it. I wanted a beaming welcome....
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A Night for Remembrance
Washington D.C. is arguably the most historically significant city in America. Sure, cities like Boston and New York City impacted our history, but no other place has been the capital for over...
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The Real World
Thick shrubbery punctuated by cowboys leading their herds to a watering hole comes to mind when one thinks of Wyoming. Indeed, upon my return, everyone smiled when they learned where we had been—and...
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The Week My Eyes Were Opened
July 15, 2012. 3:00 a.m., my alarm sounded. My tired body was quickly energized when I remembered that the day set before me was the beginning of a journey like nothing I had embarked upon before.
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My Cultural Immersion in Spain
My recent travel experience was not just seeing another country, but rather experiencing it. Recently, I had the privilege to travel to, live, and study in Alicante, Spain. I spent three weeks this past...
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The Dark Side of Venice
My greatest impression as we left Venice was that it is a dying city, although that was not my first impression. After multiple delays that stretched our overnight train...
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The Beauty of Adventure
I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the clean foreign air a thousand miles away from everything I’d ever known. I looked out into the peaceful night, my eyes traveling over the...
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Walking on Sugar
Growing up in a society that embraces technology, my experiences in Boracay have opened my eyes towards a different kind of beauty. I had never been...
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My Year Abroad
Growing up in a small town has its limitations, and for this single reason, even at a young age, I craved to see what was outside my small town in Michigan. I wanted to learn about and...
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A Babysitting Job That Became More Than What God Had Intended For Me
Hi, I am Diana. For my trip this year, I went to babysit my four month old niece, Claire, and her parents, Nick and Oana, in Houston. In this trip, I remembered who I was and what I was capable...
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A Wonderful Journey, Not a Simple Trip
This may be a little unorthodox, but [i]bear with me[/i], okay? The trip about which I’m going to blog just happens to be a field trip to [size=18]Lawrence, Kansas.[/size] My...
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The European “Dream”?
It began a few summers ago when my family decided that we were going to take our dream vacation to Europe in the summer of 2011. We decided on choosing a guided tour called the “European Dream”...
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Fun in the Florida Sun
Last winter I went on one of my most exciting adventures, a vacation with my Grandma to Florida. Every year my Grandma makes the long drive from Michigan to Florida to spend the winter...
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Sand between my toes, but where’s the beach?
When you think sand, you think lying out on the beach, watching surfers ride the waves, and a perfect temperate climate. However, the sand at The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has none...
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How Many Camels? An Adventure in a Moroccan Tannery
The leather Souq and tannery in the Fes medina is one of the biggest and oldest of its kind in the world. Hundreds of workers wake up early each morning, before the Moroccan sun has risen in the...
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Unmasking Venice
I wish I could stay in Venice forever. When I visited Venice, or Venezia in Italian, the spectacular grandeur of the city amazed me. Yet, the city seemed so peaceful and quaint with...
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Traveling Into the 1600’s
My level of excitement went over the limit when some of my classmates and I arrived at the Jamestown Settlement Park. Everything became surreal after the long two hour bus drive, and I did not have...
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Hurricane Season – Need To Know
Agitated by the constant hurricane updates on the Weather Channel and other media? Need to answer your kid's questions about hurricanes? Here's some basic scientific information...
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Monterey: The Perfect Choice
On June 18, 2012 my family decided to take a trip on our rented, 36 foot RV down the coast of California from Sacramento. We journeyed to Monterey Bay; a wonderful ocean side and city that impacted...
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True Masterpieces of Madrid
Being a traveler is life changing. Getting to know the people of the world is an experience more magnificent than any tower, castle, or painting. In June of 2012, my family got to experience the...
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Treasures and Timing
I sat in my Honors World Art Studio Class freshman year expecting to have the opportunity to make pottery and create beautiful art. Within the first few minutes I was handed…a textbook. A...
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There and Back Again, a Georgian’s Tale
To immerse oneself in unfamiliar surroundings is the most effective way to broaden one’s horizons and to be able to understand other’s opinions and points of...
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No Sleep In Istanbul
Saood Abdul-Kabir peers over me as I dipped a big toe into sleep. As soon as I was drowning in the blackness of sleep, Saood encroaches...
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My Trip to Wisconsin Dells
Vacation: A special trip for the purpose of recreation or relaxing. While this is true, my favorite reason to take a vacation would be making memories with my family. Every few years my mother...
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through my mother’s eyes
People only care about material things. Even in my poor neighborhood, everyone made sure they have the right look by buying Jordan and snap back hats. I begged my parents for everything thing I seen...
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Alors On Danse
“Pardon, Pardon” uttered the determined sea of commuters on the streets of Paris. Other than that, they kept to themselves, and we kept to ours. It became clear that rushing businessmen...
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A Volunteer At Home
My favorite and most meaningful trip started on June 9th, 2012, my first day of volunteering in Nicaragua. A few months back my friend proposed a plan that her, my father and I took a trip down to...
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Wet Cars, Wet Shoes, and Dampened Spirits
Everybody has one. One vacation during which all forces of the universe work together to create the perfect storm of events, a storm that picks you up by the collar of your shirt, tosses you around,...
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Nothing Like New York
One theoretical conversation lead to one of the best experiences of a lifetime. An annual trip between my mother and her friends was the topic...
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Fear is Fear of the Unknown
I was overwhelmed to be back to such a historic and majestic park surrounded by tall elegant trees that were covered in a faded blanket of snow. It was surreal. There were birds singing happily in the...
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Adventure in Oregon
My Mom walked into my room in Colorado saying, “Crystal, you have way too many things, we don’t have room for all that.” Confused, I looked down and only saw one suitcase and two...
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But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
I remember my experience with one of the most notorious things about travel: lost luggage. Though I used to not define Strippi as luggage, she was lost. My father and I were traveling...
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Switzerland Swept Me Away!
This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Europe with the Voyageurs Florida Ambassadors of Music. The trip lasted 16 glorious...
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To Germany and Back Again: A Tale of Exploring and Gaining Independence
June 12, 2012 8:30 a.m. MSP Airport, Security Checkpoint I was crying. The trip to Germany hadn't even begun, but my eyes were wet as my friends and I waited in the long...
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Waltz Across Texas
As author Mary Lasswell once said, “I am forced to conclude that God made Texas on his day off, for pure entertainment, just to prove that all that diversity could be crammed into one section...
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Running Late
“Good Lord I’m late!”,I screamed as I barreled down the hall. I looked up at the clock. I could feel it mocking me …”6:45a.m”, shamefully late as usual....
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Digging
As a five-year-old, I remember sitting on the salty shore and contemplating whether or not my friends could have been right when they told me that if I shoveled long and hard, I would hit China. ...
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Island Ecology Trip 2012
This past June, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to the largest Bahamian island, Andros Island, on a school trip. With a population of only...
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Dream Trip for the Fiercely Patriotic
I stood with nerves tingling among a small, shy group of teens at the airport. I, at fifteen years old, paid for my own tuition and plane tickets to come on this four-day Washington D.C. trip...
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Strawberry Fields
Earlier this summer, I was fortunate enough to be chosen to attend a Girl Scout "Destination" program to New York City. "Destinations" is a worldwide program that encourages girls...
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Home Is Where The Heart Is: Scotland 2009
Home is where you hang your heart, and it’s fair to say that my heart has stayed in Scotland since we arrived in Edinburgh (pronounced Edin-burrah to those of you who dinna kent) in March,...
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Small town girls in the Big Apple
Ever since my mother was a little girl, dreams of traveling to the big and bustling city of New York flourished.; I was no different. Both of us, having grown up in the quaint and sleepy towns of...
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My Trip to Paris. Discovering a New World in the City of Lights.
In May I traveled to Paris, France with 19 other...
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The Week Abroad that Changed My Life
A year and two months ago, (yes I know the exact duration) 19 of us traveled to the beautiful country...
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